NIGER DELTA: OIL COMMUNITIES SAY THEY CAN'T GUARANTEE ENERGY SECURITY

Akanimo Reports

29 September 2011

NIGER DELTA: OIL COMMUNITIES SAY THEY CAN'T GUARANTEE ENERGY SECURITY

CHIEFS, women, youths and community leaders from the oil-bearing communities of the Niger Delta, rose from a two-day regional conference on the extractive industry, with one key message to the authorities: ''We can not guarantee sustainable energy security in Nigeria''.

Speaker after speaker at the conference which was organised by the foremost environmental rights advocacy group, Environmental Rights Action (ERA) in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, painted a horrific picture of the situation in their communities.

Delegates from Ndokwa ethnic nationality in Delta State, told the conference that the Italian oil giant, Agip, is a ''monstrous oil company that has no respect for the environment and their people''

Director of ERA in-charge of Programmes, Dr. Godwin Uyi Ojo, said the conference was one in a series of consultative meetigs with villages and oil-bearing communities on the need to address ''the destructive impacts associated with oil extraction''.

The conference however, focused on the oil industry in the country with particular reference to Agip operations in the Niger Delta communities.